Not your father’s office. Not your mother’s rebellion.
Not your father’s office.
Not your mother’s rebellion.
My name is MIKAEL VAN LICHTBERG. I’m a photographer and visual artist and I’ll get straight to the point:
I’m presenting my first independent editorial series.
Shot on 35mm film at the Kunstmuseum Bonn in Germanys old capital, the project stages Berlin-based model KIM KNORKE in and around an actual police vehicle — styled in fashion pieces by PRADA and BALENCIAGA.
Shoes: New Balance 9060 sneakers
Every image, every location, every gesture is the result of intentional choices. A dialogue between setting, symbolism, and casting. The shoot was developed in close coordination with the art museum, and required official permissions not only from the museum itself but also from the architect behind its striking brutalist structure.
GIRLBOSS is an independent editorial series by European photographer Mikael van Lichtberg.
Shot on 35mm film at Kunstmuseum Bonn, the project stages Berlin-based model Kim Knorke in and around an active police vehicle. Through controlled posing, fashion styling, and institutional symbolism, the series examines power, performance, and contemporary femininity.
The imagery combines cinematic restraint with fashion pieces by Prada and Balenciaga, using the language of editorial photography to question modern narratives of authority and empowerment.
Please note: The full album can be found at the bottom of the page.
GIRLBOSS is an independent editorial series by European photographer Mikael van Lichtberg.
Shot on 35mm film at Kunstmuseum Bonn, the project stages Berlin-based model Kim Knorke in and around an active police vehicle. Through controlled posing, fashion styling, and institutional symbolism, the series examines power, performance, and contemporary femininity.
The imagery combines cinematic restraint with fashion pieces by Prada and Balenciaga, using the language of editorial photography to question modern narratives of authority and empowerment.
Sweatshirt: Balenciaga CEO Crewneck
Plaid cotton miniskirt: Prada
Every image, every location, every gesture is the result of intentional choices. A dialogue between setting, symbolism, and casting. The shoot was developed in close coordination with the art museum, and required official permissions not only from the museum itself but also from the architect behind its striking brutalist structure.
Phone strap: VONMÄHLEN Infinity
The entire series was shot on 35mm, deliberately resisting the polished corrections of digital photography. Every frame is original, born from instinct and precision. With all the soft focus, halos, and imperfections that make film so unapologetically honest, the aesthetic becomes part of the statement.
The city of Bonn was chosen precisely for its quiet gravity. As the former capital of West Germany, it was a city of decisions, diplomacy, and institutional power: less loud than Berlin, but no less influential. That tension between postwar authority and present-day emptiness forms the backdrop of this project. And into that vacuum steps a new kind of presence: young, female, raised in the digital age and captured on analog film.
The city of Bonn was chosen precisely for its quiet gravity. As the former capital of West Germany, it was a city of decisions, diplomacy, and institutional power: less loud than Berlin, but no less influential. That tension between postwar authority and present-day emptiness forms the backdrop of this project. And into that vacuum steps a new kind of presence: young, female, raised in the digital age and captured on analog film.
The entire series was shot on 35mm, deliberately resisting the polished corrections of digital photography. Every frame is original, born from instinct and precision. With all the soft focus, halos, and imperfections that make film so unapologetically honest, the aesthetic becomes part of the statement.
Handbag: The Rou Bag in croc style by WRSTBHVR
Within this editorial, 2000s aesthetics become both a mask and a mirror. The CEO hoodie is not ironic; it’s confrontational. The plaid mini is not coquettish; it’s calculated. Even the phone strap, once a banal accessory, becomes a symbol of digital-era control. There’s a certain tension in the way these looks sit atop a police car: softness and power, style and critique, aesthetic play and sociopolitical undertone.
This isn’t just a fashion throwback. It’s a recontextualization of identity through clothes that once told a different story. Now worn with new intent, new posture, and new meaning.
The visual language of this series draws heavily from the early 2000s. An era once ridiculed for its maximalism and low-rise chaos, now re-embraced by a generation that reclaims it with sharp self-awareness. What was once seen as tasteless or hyper-commercial is now a site of cultural excavation.
Gen Z doesn’t wear Y2K fashion to relive it. They wear it to rewrite it.
Mikael van Lichtberg:
European photographer and visual artist. Formerly rooted in commercial advertising and content production, now fully dedicated to artistic image-making. His work explores femininity, androgyny, and Gen Z identity; through the lens of analog intimacy and quiet resistance. Shot primarily on 35mm film, his portraits blur the line between fashion and feeling.
Within this editorial, 2000s aesthetics become both a mask and a mirror. The CEO hoodie is not ironic; it’s confrontational. The plaid mini is not coquettish; it’s calculated. Even the phone strap, once a banal accessory, becomes a symbol of digital-era control. There’s a certain tension in the way these looks sit atop a police car: softness and power, style and critique, aesthetic play and sociopolitical undertone.
This isn’t just a fashion throwback. It’s a recontextualization of identity through clothes that once told a different story. Now worn with new intent, new posture, and new meaning.
Vintage phone: Motorola Razr V3
The visual language of this series draws heavily from the early 2000s. An era once ridiculed for its maximalism and low-rise chaos, now re-embraced by a generation that reclaims it with sharp self-awareness. What was once seen as tasteless or hyper-commercial is now a site of cultural excavation.
Gen Z doesn’t wear Y2K fashion to relive it. They wear it to rewrite it.
Credits.
Model: KIM KNORKE /@kimknorke
Police Officers: STEFAN MEISTER /@stefanmeisterofficial, DENIS AROB
Photographer: MIKAEL VAN LICHTBERG /@mikael_lichtberg
Make-up: ANTONIA /@antonia.kri
Styling Coordination: DARIA MALAKAIEVA /@dariiamalakaieva
Analog Lab & Scan: cameradealer.de
Location: KUNSTMUSEUM BONN /@kunstmuseumbonn
Thanks: SCHULTES FRANK ARCHITEKTEN
Police Car: PROPCOP EFFECTS /@propcopeffects
Credits.
Model: KIM KNORKE /@kimknorke
Police Officers: STEFAN MEISTER /@stefanmeisterofficial, DENIS AROB
Photographer: MIKAEL VAN LICHTBERG /@mikael_lichtberg
Make-up: ANTONIA /@antonia.kri
Styling Coordination: DARIA MALAKAIEVA /@dariiamalakaieva
Location: KUNSTMUSEUM BONN /@kunstmuseumbonn
Thanks: SCHULTES FRANK ARCHITEKTEN
Police Car: PROPCOP EFFECTS /@propcopeffects
Sweatshirt: Balenciaga CEO Crewneck
Plaid cotton miniskirt: Prada
Shoes: New Balance 9060 sneakers
Handbag: Rou Bag by WRSTBHVR
Phone strap: VONMÄHLEN Infinity
This shooting was not supported or sponsored by these brands.
